Salle Hansi

Although not exclusively devoted to Alsatian art, the Musée
Unterlinden presents a representative sampling of furniture from the region.
Aside from the large and luxurious armoires produced by Renaissance and
17th-century cabinetmakers, ornately painted furniture was favoured in rural
Alsace. This technique was used to hide the structure made of pine or other
lower quality wood. In Alsatian rural tradition, a painted armoire inscribed
with the year and the monogram of the young bride formed part of the dowry
offered in marriage. The ornamental repertoire was mainly restricted to flowers
and geometric motifs.

The museum also holds a number of Alsatian chairs with legs
of differing design, another feature that enjoyed a certain popularity in the
region. The chair back served as a canvas for sculpted, and often exceedingly
complex, interlacing.

Finally, with respect to painting, the museum’s collections
explore the quasi-patriotic thread running through Alsatian art, a yearning for
French Alsace following the defeat of 1870, with works by painters such as
Pabst, Brion and Stosskopf.